Johnny Novgorod:Isn't that a popular sentiment in Argentina, always feeling bad for poor Messi.Fuck him.

Yeah, his showings for Argentina just show exactly how much he relies on the team around him.

Not that he's not a decent player, but the hype around Messi is kind of insulting to the rest of his teammates.

Great player but the team's overreliant on him or he's not involved enough. Either way he's never meshed properly with them. I don't think he's scored a single goal past the group stage in any of the 4 world cups he's played. He'll get you there but that's it.

Johnny Novgorod:Isn't that a popular sentiment in Argentina, always feeling bad for poor Messi.Fuck him.

Yeah, his showings for Argentina just show exactly how much he relies on the team around him.

Not that he's not a decent player, but the hype around Messi is kind of insulting to the rest of his teammates.

Great player but the team's overreliant on him or he's not involved enough. Either way he's never meshed properly with them. I don't think he's scored a single goal past the group stage in any of the 4 world cups he's played. He'll get you there but that's it.

If anything this tournament shown that teams that depend on a single player don't go far.

At least they didn't have to go to the penalties this time, though it was still a grave mistake from Japan during those last seconds. They took a risk with the corner without realizing how high Belgium had sneaked their key players.

Not convinced. Not convinced at all by that display. For a start, we don't seem to score goals against decent teams. It would be nice to see someone else score a goal against a team with some quality about them and not just hope for a Harry Kane penalty. I mean, even Kane seems to struggle. I know its a young team and no one expects us to win, but it is becoming obvious what our weaknesses are.

As for the match, it was a pretty ugly affair with plenty of yellow cards as both England and Columbia decided to stop trying to play football and instead kick each other. But either side of that, there was some decent football played, England all build up and no end product and Columbia looked threating on the playing on the break. Knowing that, England still let them get into the game at times and it was only a matter of time before they got a goal. And they did, which lead to penalties which lead to me wondering if I'd jinxed them in my last post. But we won, we are through to the semi finals on a penalty shootout for the first time ever I think. So, we will see what Saturday brings, hopefully something more convincing.

Catfood220:Fuck my life England, what the Hell are you trying to do to me?

Not convinced. Not convinced at all by that display. For a start, we don't seem to score goals against decent teams. It would be nice to see someone else score a goal against a team with some quality about them and not just hope for a Harry Kane penalty. I mean, even Kane seems to struggle. I know its a young team and no one expects us to win, but it is becoming obvious what our weaknesses are.

As for the match, it was a pretty ugly affair with plenty of yellow cards as both England and Columbia decided to stop trying to play football and instead kick each other. But either side of that, there was some decent football played, England all build up and no end product and Columbia looked threating on the playing on the break. Knowing that, England still let them get into the game at times and it was only a matter of time before they got a goal. And they did, which lead to penalties which lead to me wondering if I'd jinxed them in my last post. But we won, we are through to the semi finals on a penalty shootout for the first time ever I think. So, we will see what Saturday brings, hopefully something more convincing.

England didn't deserve to win. Colombia deserved it even less, mind, and wouldn't have had room to complain if they'd finished with 8 men. After all the talk about stopping players harrassing the referee...

The build-up play was too slow. Against a team determined to foul everything moving, they should have been having much quicker distribution from the keeper. The Netherlands at their best would have had the ball in the net at the other end by the time Pickford had decided to kick it.

And which idiot at Fifa decided Americans could referee football matches?

And which idiot at Fifa decided Americans could referee football matches?

Thats Raciss

Nope. That's an observation based on watching of US "soccer" matches and the refereeing therein, and additionally the fact that US referees don't have the experience of dealing with bullshittery of the highest order.

Catfood220:Fuck my life England, what the Hell are you trying to do to me?

Not convinced. Not convinced at all by that display. For a start, we don't seem to score goals against decent teams. It would be nice to see someone else score a goal against a team with some quality about them and not just hope for a Harry Kane penalty. I mean, even Kane seems to struggle. I know its a young team and no one expects us to win, but it is becoming obvious what our weaknesses are.

As for the match, it was a pretty ugly affair with plenty of yellow cards as both England and Columbia decided to stop trying to play football and instead kick each other. But either side of that, there was some decent football played, England all build up and no end product and Columbia looked threating on the playing on the break. Knowing that, England still let them get into the game at times and it was only a matter of time before they got a goal. And they did, which lead to penalties which lead to me wondering if I'd jinxed them in my last post. But we won, we are through to the semi finals on a penalty shootout for the first time ever I think. So, we will see what Saturday brings, hopefully something more convincing.

England didn't deserve to win. Colombia deserved it even less, mind, and wouldn't have had room to complain if they'd finished with 8 men. After all the talk about stopping players harrassing the referee...

The build-up play was too slow. Against a team determined to foul everything moving, they should have been having much quicker distribution from the keeper. The Netherlands at their best would have had the ball in the net at the other end by the time Pickford had decided to kick it.

And which idiot at Fifa decided Americans could referee football matches?

I agree completely. If Colombia had of played football instead of brawling, then I think they could of won it. When they actually bothered to play football, they looked dangerous and the better team. I am not overly impressed with our current tactic of hoping for a penalty, a smart team will know not to give anything away in the box. You've got to think that Sweden will be told by their manager not to risk holding and grappling at free kicks and corners, because take away our penalties and I don't think we offer much else.

That was more like it, 2 goals that weren't Harry Kane penalties and a pretty convincing display. So, we play Croatia next. Should be fun, but confidence in the team is going to be sky high. I myself have become slightly superstitious about the whole thing and have decided that I must be in the pub nearest me drinking San Miguel. I have based this on the highly scientific facts that I was in that I was there when we thumped Panama, I stayed home when we lost to Belgium and struggled against Columbia. Then yesterday, I was in the pub again and we won. The facts speak for themselves, I must be in the pub so England can. It is a hard duty to bare, but one that I grudgingly accept.

That was more like it, 2 goals that weren't Harry Kane penalties and a pretty convincing display. So, we play Croatia next. Should be fun, but confidence in the team is going to be sky high. I myself have become slightly superstitious about the whole thing and have decided that I must be in the pub nearest me drinking San Miguel. I have based this on the highly scientific facts that I was in that I was there when we thumped Panama, I stayed home when we lost to Belgium and struggled against Columbia. Then yesterday, I was in the pub again and we won. The facts speak for themselves, I must be in the pub so England can. It is a hard duty to bare, but one that I grudgingly accept.

Still entirely reliant on set pieces and headers though. I'm still not buying into the hype - Croatia are a solid team going forward, and England's defence is still a bit iffy. Even against Sweden, we relied on a couple of incredible saves or we could have been talking penalties again.

That was more like it, 2 goals that weren't Harry Kane penalties and a pretty convincing display. So, we play Croatia next. Should be fun, but confidence in the team is going to be sky high. I myself have become slightly superstitious about the whole thing and have decided that I must be in the pub nearest me drinking San Miguel. I have based this on the highly scientific facts that I was in that I was there when we thumped Panama, I stayed home when we lost to Belgium and struggled against Columbia. Then yesterday, I was in the pub again and we won. The facts speak for themselves, I must be in the pub so England can. It is a hard duty to bare, but one that I grudgingly accept.

Still entirely reliant on set pieces and headers though. I'm still not buying into the hype - Croatia are a solid team going forward, and England's defence is still a bit iffy. Even against Sweden, we relied on a couple of incredible saves or we could have been talking penalties again.

That's the thing, reliant on set pieces and headers or not, this is the perfect chance for England or any of these teams to win a World Cup and I'm sure they know it. Brazil, Germany, Italy, Argentina, Spain, Netherlands, etc., they always have that "favorite" status and they're not here, and at least one (usually more than one) is always there in the semis, and this time they're gone, and that'll take a long time to happen again in future WCs.

Personally, I'd like Belgium to win, because then it means Brazil lost to the champions and hopefully that erases Neymar's bullshit a little bit, the guy has no respect for that yellow jersey imo.

I'm inclined to agree, if only because people round here will finally stop talking about that one time we made it to the semi-finals in Mexico in '86. Winning would give them something new to blabber on about, probably for the next 100 years. Maybe make it a national holiday too.

Well, that's that then. You know what, it wasn't totally embarrassing, unlike the Rooney years where the team played like they would rather be doing anywhere else. We'll see what happens when this team has a couple more years experience in them and see what they do in the Euros. Hopefully, we will have some players with an end product and not rely on set pieces and penalties. And maybe Sterling will stop being useless.

Mind you, I'm glad England have gone out now. I don't think I could of took another match like that in the final. Well, we'll see what will happen on Saturday.

Great game, easily the best World Cup final in ages imo. I always root for the underdog but France are the better team and deserved to win, but Croatia also paid the price of those 3 ETs. A more realistic result would've been 3x2. Anyway, 2022 is so far away now. :(